Ponyboy's POV

The cool breeze of November swept through his thin shirt. He brought up the cigarette, that dangled between his thin fingers, to his parted lips. As his lungs filled with the smoke, his body began to warm up. He breathed out and watched the smoke pour out of his mouth, dancing and twirling into the night sky. Today was a stressful day. He came to the lot to get away from Darry's constant hollering. Ponyboy this or Ponyboy that. Ponyboy! Ponyboy! Ponyboy! He was getting tired of his own name.

"Hey! Baby Curtis!" A tall lanky boy with familiar curls leaned against a wall with one hand tucked into the comfort of his pocket and the other up in the air, waving. Only one person called him Baby Curtis. Curly Shepard.

"Isn't it passed your curfew?" Curly mocked as he got closer, his cocky grin becoming more and more visible to Pony.

"I'm 16, Curly. I don't need a curfew." He didn't think he needed to tell Curly Shepard that he really did have a curfew. Knowing Curly, he probably wouldn't let it go and would ridicule him for the rest of his life; if Curly even made it past 18.

"I'm only joking, Baby Curtis" Curly sat next to Pony and wrapped his arm around him, bringing Pony closer to him. He snatched the cigarette that Pony was holding with his other hand and inhaled the smoke deeply. He threw his head back and let out a laugh before coughing abruptly. He turned to Pony, blowing some smoke into his face. Pony was about to snatch his cigarette back before he saw the look on Curly's face. He was no longer grinning, his eyebrows were furrowed, and his was glaring at the road like if it insulted his sister.

"I wish my old man gave me a curfew, or even Tim." Curly shook his head and turned to me. He smirked and placed the cigarette in between Pony's lips. "You should get back home, Baby Curtis. You don't want to get in trouble". Curly gave Pony a quick wink and jogged off leaving Pony completely dumbstruck.

/

"Then he winked at me! He winked! At me! What is that even supposed to mean!?" Pony sighed in frustration and dropped down on the bed and let his head fall onto his hands. He looked up and stared at the dirty jean jacket that laid on the dresser. He reached out and grabbed the jacket. He let his hands feel the fabric of the jacket.

"What is that even supposed to mean, Johnny?" Pony groaned and tossed the jacket aside. He probably looked pathetic right now. He was talking a fucking jean jacket. Pony jumped when he heard the loud knock outside his door.

"Pony! Come out, Steve and Two-bit are here!" Darry shouted outside his door. Pony turned and eyed the jean jacket. It's just a jean jacket. Ponyboy lifted himself off the bed and opened the door.

"Pony!" Two-Bit wrapped his arm around Ponyboy's neck and gave him a noogie.

"Ah! Two-Bit stop!" Pony fought Two-Bit until he let him go.

"How's it been going, Pony? Any broads bothering you, yet?" Ponyboy's face flooded with red. His thoughts were filled with memories of curly hair, smoke and that wink from the night before. Pony turned his head away from Two-Bit and shook his head

"Not yet" Two-Bit gave Pony a skeptical look, but decided to not question it. Sodapop and Steve; however, decided they wanted to get to the bottom of it.

"Who has you blushing like this, little brother?" Soda poked Pony's cheek. Pony swats his older brother's hand away and rolled his eyes.

"I'm not blushing! It's just a bit hot in here" Pony huffed and pushed pass Soda and Steve. Steve grabbed his shirt and pulled him back.

"I think Pony finally had a crush" Ponyboy wanted to crawl into a closet and die if it meant getting away from these two. I mean did it really matter if he had a crush or not, which he does not!

"Who's the girl?" Sodapop asked. Eager to get to know the girl(boy) that captured his brother's heart.

"Soda, leave Pony alone!" Pony can't remember the last time he was thankful that Darry intervened.

"Well, I have to go! I have...a track meet!" Ponyboy ran out the house and unfortunately bumped into the same curly haired boy who started this mess.

"Baby Curtis!"

"Curly what are you doing out here?" Pony turned around, checking to see if Darry was outside. The last thing he needed was Darry yelling at him about how bad of an influence Curly was and how he shouldn't be hanging out with him.

"I wanted to see you" Pony blushed and grabbed Curly's shoulders and started pushing him away from the house. What was wrong with him? He took a deep breath, trying to calm down his racing heart.

"So, What is Ponyboy Curtis doing today?" Curly took out a pack of smokes and pulled out one for himself and another one for Pony. Pony gave Curly a quick thanks and pulled out his lighter.

"Avoiding Soda and Steve"

"Well how about we hang out today!?" Curly put his arm around Pony. Pony was thankful for the lit cigarette that calmed his heart. Curly turned to Pony and gave him a big grin, "so?".

"Sure" That grin of his made him weak. How could he say no to th- What was wrong with him? He shouldn't-he shouldn't be having these thoughts. It was wrong.

"Alright! Should we get going?" Pony paused. Was this really a good idea? This was Curley Shepard. He was trouble and he could possibly get Ponyboy in trouble. Pony had no idea where Curly was taking him, but he didn't seem to care. He wanted to go. He wanted this.

Curly cocked his eyebrow and tilted his head, "Well?"

Pony grinned, "Let's go"